Preller, James. BYSTANDER

Preller, James.  BYSTANDER
New York : Square Fish, 2011
IL 5-8, RL 4.2
ISBN 031254796X

Eric is the new guy in town.  His mom grew up in town, and Eric and his brother have moved
with her to start a new life without dad.  Eric quickly discovers the in-group lead by Griffin
and their favorite activity - beating a scrawny kid named David to a pulp on a regular basis.
Eric wants no part of the bullying, but he also doesn’t do anything to help David or to stop the
other kids from participating.  However, Eric’s role soon changes as he becomes the target of
terror after making some disparaging remarks about a member of the in-crowd.  Eric discovers
how fast a bystander can become the object of a bully’s attention.

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK 
New York : Random House, 2009 
IL YA 
ISBN 0375843663 

When the story opens Sam is hacking into the White House Security system, well it's there and supposed to be impenetrable, but when he tries to cover his tracks on the way out he accidentally crashes the international computer grid, and that gets him busted. Not long after he is incarcerated, he gets recruited to work for the government in their super secret cyber defense force. As such he essentially joins a select group of elite hackers as they work to track down and outwit cyber terrorists. “Use your skills to keep the world and our country safe!” 

In not too long evidence of a deadly neuro-virus surfaces on the web; however, their newest and best weapon, a neuro headset that connects your brainwaves directly to the internet thus ramping up response time, skills, and range, also creates an open door that could expose your very mind to the terrorists you are hunting. So, have fun, and buckle your headset! (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR
New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
IL YA
ISBN  0399254544

What Your Wish For: A Book for Darfur is a collection of writing and art from an international
roster of some of the best authors and artists who are currently working.  Authors like Meg
Cabot and Alexander McCall Smith, Francisco Stork, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jeanne DuPrau, Joyce
Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Karen Hesse, Cornelia Funke, Ann M Martin, Meg Cabot, R.L. Stine,
Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Nate Powell, Cynthia Voigt -- have all donated their work to this
project.  Each piece explores wishes – some are funny, some are creepy, some are inspiring –
but all are linked by the universal power of a wish, the abstract things we wish for: home,
family, safety and love.

The book was created to raise awareness of the plight of the Darfuri refugees forced to live
in camps in eastern Chad.  And funds from sales of the books go toward granting the Darfuri’s
wishes – building libraries in the refugee camps.  Their wish is that children growing up in
refugee camps will become educated about good and evil and their history and their future,
and will therefore be less likely to be recruited as child soldiers.

What You Wish For is a thoughtful book that sheds light on an important international tragedy.
But readers will also become exposed to some very fine writing that will encourage them to
continue to read more of these authors’ works.   (NH Isinglass Teen Award
nominee, 2013)

Fletcher, Charlie. STONEHEART

Fletcher, Charlie.  STONEHEART
New York : Hyperion, 2008
IL 5-8, RL 5.8
ISBN  1423101766

On a school trip to the Natural History Museum in London, George, an awkward 12 year old, is
unfairly and wrongly blamed for knocking over a museum display…typical.  He’s always the
brunt of the other kids’ teasing.  His punishment is waiting for the rest of the class to complete
the tour, and George is angry.  He lashes out and breaks off a dragon's head carved onto the
wall of the museum.

The next thing he knows, a pterodactyl carving comes to life and begins to chase him through
the streets of London.  George runs for his life, and is saved by another statue, a soldier
named the Gunner, who informs George that he has entered another layer of reality, an
alternative London where statues move and talk -- and worse yet, he’s started a new war
between good spits (statues that hold a bit of their creators in them and are their “spittin
image”) and evil taints (statues without a bit of their creators).

George and the Gunner are eventually joined by Edie – a girl who can see the moving statues,
but there’s more to her, too – she’s a glint, because she can catch a glimpse of a past tragedy
when she touches certain things-  and the three frantically race against the clock to figure out
what George must do to make amends for his wrong and get himself back home.

Stoneheart is an exciting, imaginative story, in which Fletcher incorporates actual London
statuary, an intriguing touch.  It’s the first in a trilogy.   (NH Isinglass Teen
Award nominee, 2013)

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS 
New York : Delacorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 038573977X 

Orchards is a novel in verse that deals with a difficult subject – bullying and teen suicide. 

Kanako Goldberg is half-Japanese and half-Jewish, and a member of the clique of girls whose teasing had something to do with a classmate’s suicide. The classmate was bipolar and had all these issues anyway, and besides, it’s not like Kana was the ringleader… but she didn’t do anything to stop it either. 

Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior and develop some sensitivity to the situation, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves. 

Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But Kana gets to know her relatives, and Japan, and village culture. Through imaginary conversations with Ruth, the classmate who killed herself, Kana begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. But news of another tragedy sends her world spinning out of control. 

Orchards is a contemplative, beautifully written book that will evoke important conversations about some very important topics. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Sheehan, Anna. A LONG, LONG SLEEP

Sheehan, Anna.  A LONG, LONG SLEEP

Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011
IL YA
ISBN 0763652601

Rosalinda Fitzroy is awakened by a kiss. Bren, a handsome young man, was exploring the
basement of the apartment building where he lives with his parents, and found her stasis tube
and kissed her.  Biologically, Rose is 16 years old, but she learns that it’s been 62 years since
she went into stasis.  True, stasis protected her from the plague-ridden Dark Times, but she is
heartbroken to learn that everyone she knows is long dead -- particularly her beloved Xavier, a
childhood friend and first love.  Her waking also spurs a media frenzy: She’s the heir to her
father’s billionaire company that owns and operates most of the world of the future.

It’s expected that Rose will eventually take over the company – a task that she isn’t sure she’s
qualified to do.  She’s quiet and withdrawn.  Her guardians enroll her in the best intergalactic
high school but Rose struggles to keep up and fit in.  She picks up her art again and finds some
comfort in that.  She might be able to piece some kind of life together in this strange future,
except –

The media frenzy surrounding Rose’s awakening triggers another stasis sleeper – a dangerous,
virtually unstoppable killing machine called a Plastine who is programmed to assassinate her.  
With the help of a few friends, and her own surprising strength, Rose must face reality –
finally – and defeat the Plastine.

This is a fast moving story, with both anticipated and surprising plot twists.  We move between
the present and the past; Rose is a complex girl whose heartbreaking past is eventually
revealed—we are constantly asking why she was in stasis at all…and the reason is really
disturbing.   ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS 
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0763655597 

Every night at seven minutes past midnight, a monster visits Conor. But it’s not the monster from his nightmare--the nightmare he’s been having every night since his mother started cancer treatments. The one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming. 

This monster is different. It’s ancient and wild. It’s from his backyard, a huge treelike form, with his uppermost branches twisted into a face with a huge, gaping mouth. Conor assumes it’s just his imagination, these nightly visits, only…only in the morning, there are leaves and branches on the floor. When this monster comes to visit him, Conor finds he’s not actually afraid of him. And he tells the monster so. Because “I’ve seen worse,” Conor tells him. But this monster assures him that he’ll be afraid of him soon enough. Before it’s over…the monster will get the truth out of him. 

A Monster Calls is a heart-wrenching story of loss, of love, and of growing up. Conor must face fears that no child should face – the slow, painful death of a parent. A feeling of displacement in your world, when your world turns upside down. When your dad’s living far away and involved with his new family. When your grandma comes to stay and you can’t seem to keep yourself tidy enough for her. 

Patrick Ness, the author of the Chaos Walking Trilogy for young adults, wrote A Monster Calls based on an idea and characters by Siobhan Dowd, who lost her battle with cancer. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations by Jim Kay. ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)